1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image printing system, a control method therefor, a printing device, a control method therefor, and a computer product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, digital images captured by a digital still camera can be stored on a storage medium. If the digital still camera is the type that can be connected to an external data device and allows exchange of data, the digital still camera sends the digital images to the external data device, such as a personal computer. Thereafter, the digital image can be edited using the editing printing application provided in the external data device and printed using a printing device.
Alternatively, the storage medium of the digital still camera can be detached and presented at a Developing, Printing, and Enlargement (DPE) outlet to print the digital images using the printer for the digital still camera.
Thus, an external storage device is necessary to print the digital images captured by the digital still camera, making printing a complicated task.
Therefore, as a practical solution to the problem, a printing device was presented that can be directly connected to the digital still camera, acquire digital data from it, and print the digital data.
Such a printing device includes a direct printing function.
Thus, the printing device having a direct printing function could be used for easily acquiring the image data from the digital still camera and printing it.
However, the disadvantage of printing using the direct printing function is that the user can not try out various layouts, because only the display of the digital still camera and the control panel are available to him/her. Therefore, because of lack of layout options, printing only relatively simple matter is possible as compared to when an external data device is used.
Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-64740 discloses a printing device that sends printing data of the printer to the digital still camera when the camera is connected to the printer, thus increasing the compatibility between the printer and cameras of different manufacturers.
However, the printing data disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-64740 includes paper size, but does not include the orientation of the paper in the paper feeding tray.
In a laser printer or a multi function product in which a plurality of paper feeding trays are provided, the sheets of paper of the same size fed in portrait orientation (that is, in the direction orthogonal to the short edge of the paper) as well as landscape orientation (that is, in the direction orthogonal to the long edge of the paper) are set in different paper feeding trays. However, because the digital still camera does not get any information about the paper orientation, no notification about the paper orientation is sent from the digital still camera to the printing device. Consequently, the printer has to select the paper feeding tray from which to draw the paper, based on the job information including only the paper size.
In a scenario where only landscape-oriented paper is available and no portrait-oriented paper is available in the paper feeding tray, if a control process instructs the printer to always draw paper only from portrait-oriented paper feeding tray, the portrait-oriented paper may not be drawn, even if it is the appropriate orientation for the image in question. Alternatively, the image data having a portrait layout may be forced to be output in a landscape layout, resulting in partial loss of image in the printed matter.